Samuel Anderson from The History Boys, Gavin & Stacey, and Emmerdale will join Doctor Who's cast as the recurring character Danny Pink, a teacher at the same school where Clara Oswald (Jenna Coleman) teaches. Whether Danny will be a companion alongside Clara is uncertain.

"I was so excited to join Doctor Who I wanted to jump and click my heels, but I was scared I might not come down before filming started!" Anderson said. "It's a quintessential part of British culture and I can't believe I'm part of it. It's an honor to be able to work alongside Peter Capaldi and Jenna Coleman and I can't wait to show people how my character becomes involved with such a fantastic duo!"

Danny and Clara teach at Coal Hill School, a place with a lot of Doctor Who history. Coal Hill School teachers Barbara Wright and Ian Chesterton in 1963 accompanied the First Doctor. "For the fourth time in Doctor Who history, Coal Hill School is coming to the aid of the TARDIS," executive producer Steven Moffat said.

The eighth season of Doctor Who will feature Capaldi as the Doctor, giving viewers a good look at his Doctor's personality beyond what little has been shown so far. Filming has begun for the fourth episode, which will guest star Robert Goodman of Game of Thrones. Episode five will guest star Jonathan Bailey of Broadchurch and Pippa Bennett-Warner of The Smoke.

I wonder if this is a sign that at least some of the series is going to be Doctor-stuck-on-Earth rather than having one episode in the school then *whoosh* adventures! Given how Capaldi's Doctor showed up it could be that he needs some practise/training before setting off at full speed. It would be cool to have two companions again even if one of them isn't Captain Jack.

I hope he does become a companion.We've had too few male companions in the last few years, I think.

Looking forward to the direction they're gonna go in with Peter Capaldi- hopefully we can get away with the `everyone wants to jump the Doctor's bones for no reason` trend that's plagued the last couple of years.I'm excited. :D

I love the way the characters all have to be 'relatable' now. Actually I don't, I'd ahve preferred a time agent or basically anything to a 21st century nobody. This guy as a more serious Captain Jack? Yes please.

So I guess this means Coal Hill School might be a recurring setting? That could be interesting; the oldest Doctor of the new series once again coming in contact with Coal Hill School. They might even throw in more references to his first companions.

ForumSafari:I love the way the characters all have to be 'relatable' now. Actually I don't, I'd ahve preferred a time agent or basically anything to a 21st century nobody. This guy as a more serious Captain Jack? Yes please.

Ugh, no thanks. The point of the companions is to be more of an "anybody" than a nobody. While some writers treat that as an excuse to make basically a non-character blank slate, the new DW has had some pretty excellent companions.

Making the companion a serious-attitude time agent would drastically alter the tone of the show. There are enough "serious" shows out there, I would like my Doctor Who wacky and childish with a grounding in positive humanism thank you.

Stevepinto3:Ugh, no thanks. The point of the companions is to be more of an "anybody" than a nobody. While some writers treat that as an excuse to make basically a non-character blank slate, the new DW has had some pretty excellent companions.

Some of the best companions were either people with significant specialisations or people from different times. Modern Doctor Who is incredibly lazy in just picking up contemporary British young people. For example Barbara, one of the original companions, was a history teacher who knew enough about history to basically pretend to be a reincarnated Aztec more or less successfully for four episodes (more tapering to less and I'm not counting the final episode of the serial, she screwed that big time). Barbara was still contemporary Earth but she had a very strong area of expertise, the same as Ian and getting beaten up.

The only recent one I've liked has been Rory Williams, who admittedly I absolutely loved for bringing a fascinating dynamic to the show; that of someone who is travelling with the Doctor but for their own reasons and of someone who doesn't particularly like the Doctor when all's said and done.